Maybe In Another Life
by penchou
Summary: Collection of ficlets for the previous Rivetra Weeks (2014-2017). [rivetra]
1. in the end (we survived)

_**Rivetra Week 2014: Day 1 - Survive**_

* * *

Petra does not jump right into the welcoming body of water – Levi notices – like all their other comrades did. Instead, she stands back from the others, her feet still planted on the grassy fields near the line where soil meets sand. She does not move in her place, but Levi can tell that she's taking in the wonderful view of seeing the ocean for the first time.

When he turns his head back to look at her, he finds her eyes closed and chest heaving as she's drawing in the salty air from the sea, and her arms at her sides.

Levi checks on Eren to see him splashing water in his friends' faces and smirks at the exasperated scream coming from Jean, who in turn returned the gesture. He decides to leave them be when Springer and Braus comes to join in the water fight, and heads towards the copper haired woman watching them with an amused smile.

"Having fun?" she asks him when he reaches her side. He only gives her a slight shake of his head but that earns a chuckle from the woman. "You'll get used to it."

The former Captain faces the members of his squad, the corners of his lips tugging slightly upwards at the ringing of laughter. "Maybe I am." Levi can feel Petra's gaze on him and so he turns to find her grinning at him. "What?

Her bright amber eyes continue to stare back at him, admiration and adoration shone through in her blazing gaze and Levi does not need to know that she is very happy to be here with him. Levi turns to look forward, drowning in the beautiful view and of their friends. He slowly guides his hand towards her own and laces their fingers together when Petra leans closer, resting her head on his shoulder.

"We made it, Levi." She says softly, as if she still couldn't believe that they hadn't reached the ocean, that they haven't finally defeated the Titans. "We made it."

They did it, Levi realizes to himself just now. They finally achieved freedom and now they can stop fighting. No more blood, no more loss. Not anymore.

That is why he stays quiet, not wanting to break the peaceful moment between them, settling on affectionately rubbing the golden band worn on Petra's ring finger and raising their interlocked hands to press a soft kiss on the top of her knuckles.

He hears her sigh in relief, and brings an arm around her shoulder to bring her closer, Levi ignores the loud noises coming from the playing teens, blocks out Hanji's rambles on what to do next, and concentrates on Petra's warm and comforting presence.

He inwardly thanks every deity that they both made it out alive.


	2. unexpected pleasantries

**_Rivetra Week 2014: Day 2 - Letters_**

* * *

She remembers writing a short poem for him.

The contents of the poem, she does not remember anymore. It was written during one of her free times, and she was bored as hell so she decided to write one. Petra wrote it with the intention of it being unfinished and not being able to give it to him since he is, after all, her Captain.

Not that the poem contains her attraction towards the Captain. No, of course not. She was not careless to write it explicitly. Obviously, she had some tact. Petra wrote it in hopes of using up her boredom, after all. Nothing else, nothing more.

It's not like he would find it one day, right?

Which is why she is caught indisposed when Captain Levi confronts her about it one night. She's about to give him his nightly cup of tea when he suddenly poses the question.

"I didn't know you write."

He draws out the last word, enunciating it as if he might be incorrect and honestly Petra's too stunned to quickly reply, only regaining her thoughts upon realizing that her hand is slowly getting burned by the warmth radiating from the ceramic and swiftly places it on his office table.

"Excuse me, Captain?" she raises a brow, cheeks burning slightly at the implication that he must have found out about it. Did she leave it somewhere? Did she somehow lose it when returning to her quarters? Petra mentally curses herself. Screw her scatter brain sometimes.

"Levi." He waves his hand at her, "I already told you to call me that when we're alone."

"I'm sorry, Levi." She coughs, fidgeting in place as if she had been caught doing something bad. In this case, it kind of does have something to do with violating one of the rules. Military rules at that.

Levi looks at her with amused eyes, a smirk making its way to the corners of his lips and he ignores Petra's uneasiness, picking up his refreshment to bring it to his mouth.

"What do you mean I write?" she starts, fiddling with her thumbs and flits her eyes at anywhere but him. She doesn't like when she gets nervous, it's times like these where she can't filter her words. "Of course I write! You know this Levi, I write to papa so why would you ask that?"

"Calm down, Petra." He finally says, settling down his glass. He looks at her with his usual coolness and a touch of reserved warmth. "I was messing with you."

His only female subordinate sighs under her breath and gives the sitting man a nervous laugh. "You scared me Levi."

"I was talking about the poem, though." He cuts her off, and Petra can suddenly hear her heart beat louder and faster in her chest.

Levi moves up from his chair and slowly treads his way to her with slow but sure steps, an unknown emotion resting behind his eyes. The copper haired girl stood still in her place, silently watching him in anticipation.

He stops just right in front of her, and stares at her with wordless admiration before leaning in to whisper to her ear, pressing himself closer so that she is flushed against him.

"Just know that I feel the same way."

* * *

 _ye... this is poorly written :/_


	3. darling, we're not perfect people

_**Rivetra Week 2014: Day 3 - Demons**_

* * *

It does not take long before curiosity got the better of her.

Vera knows that she shouldn't be asking these kinds of questions, knows that it's a taboo topic especially during dinner times. But it's been bugging her ever since the new shift of lesson in history class and being the daughter of _not one_ but _two_ of the greatest soldiers of the now disbanded Survey Corps definitely put some pressure in her.

The idea didn't even come from her at all. Her classmates were not at all good with their subtle glances, eyeing her with looks of interest about her family history. They did not budge to ask her though which Vera was quietly thankful for.

Though what she didn't expect is for Ms Len, her history teacher, to be the one to directly ask her in class.

" _Vera." Her tall and brunette of a teacher called out, stopping in her discussion of how the former military group had discovered the usage of Eren Jeager's power in order to seal up Wall Maria._

 _Vera all but looked up from her textbook to face her, eyebrows furrowed in mild confusion. "Yes, ma'am?"_

" _Have your parents told you of this?" she asked, and the rest of the class hushed up, not bothering to make a noise lest they won't be able to find out from an Ackerman herself._

 _The young girl was stricken with anxiousness not really knowing how to say answer. Sure, she had asked for clarifications on the subject matter from her parents but they gave her no chance of opening up the entire topic to her._

" _I – I… no ma'am." She managed to stutter out and Vera watches as the class deflates at her answer. She fiddles with her writing tool, rolling the object between her thumb and index finger, lowering her gaze to avoid the disappointed look of her teacher._

" _Very well, then." Ms. Len said after a few moments of quiet, and she went back to the lesson not anymore bothering to inquire from the girl herself._

She knew she shouldn't be frustrated with that known fact that her parents didn't fully trust her with the truth of their former affiliation but there is no other way to define it as. She feels hurt, yes, and very well sad that Mom and Dad might not like her knowing their past.

And to make things worse, not even Aunt Mikasa nor Uncle Eren themselves want to talk about it. Whenever she tried to introduce that same topic, they would often than not freeze in place as if memories had attacked the back of their minds and after that they would laugh it off saying that they forgot. Well, that was Uncle Eren's reaction but Aunt Mikasa vehemently shifted the topic, shooting her inquiry down.

To know that their past was a skeleton in their closet made Vera wonder even more why they try to bury it, albeit it had a positive effect on their society.

So, when she abruptly expressed her concerns on the matter during dinner – _Did you kill people before, is that it?_ – Vera had to witness Levi almost choking down on his egg soup while Petra hurriedly brought him a glass of water.

"What was that, sweetie?" her mom said after making sure that her husband is alright, giving her a sideward smile and sits back on her chair opposite to her. "I didn't quite catch what you said."

Vera flickered her eyes to the both of them. Her mom is giving her a look of mixed emotions and looking not at all ready for the heavy conversation that is to come. Dad, on the other hand, has gone deathly silent and she could see his eyes are closed shut so she does not know what he's feeling at the moment.

"Uh…" she opens her mouth, desperately wanting to let her thoughts out but she's unsure how to exactly verbalize them. Vera had not seen them like this. That is to say, they both look like they are deer caught in the headlights.

"Ms Len, our history class teacher, asked me if I know any of what happened during the Titan War." She closes her mouth, and gulps slowly. Watching them in their every move and carefully chose her words. "I was wondering the real reason why you keep avoiding the subject is because you might have done things you don't want me knowing."

Vera draws out the last words as if in question, and like she had expected the results are not good.

"Vera," Petra sighs after the quiet has grown lengthier than usual and Vera winces slightly at the tired tone used by her mother. "Can't this wait?"

Her daughter can feel the tension rise in the air, and inwardly Vera wishes she hadn't talked about it at all but she's blaming her own curiosity for it and she might as well bite the bullet. "I know you don't want us to talk about it and I'm already guessing that there are indeed some things you probably regret doing."

"Vera, dear." Her mom calls out trying to stop her from rambling, but she's not yet finished and if there's one trait that her relatives associate her with her father is that she's stubborn as hell.

"No, _mom_." She stresses, staring hard at her mother. Her brows are furrowed with anger and confusion because she had yet to say her point. "I just want to know why you guys had been so adamant on not talking to me about it. Did you do shameful things when you were serving? Even though you did so much for humanity? Are you guys really that _cowardi–_ "

" _Enough."_

That had shut her up, now only realizing throughout the whole exchange her father had not said a word and now that he did with that stern 'captain voice' of his, Vera wonders if she drew the line.

She turns to look at her father, his eyes now open and narrowed in a cold stare. Vera opens her mouth to retort only to shut it close, nothing to say anymore. Ashamed, she hung her head low and prepare for the scolding that is to come.

What she didn't expect, though, is for him to draw out a long and exhausted sigh before calling her name.

Vera looks up to his face expecting to see him angry or bothered but finds him studying her with that of tiredness. She didn't really see it from him since he's always make it a point to be a bit more uplifting to them, always cracking up silly jokes and whatnot but it is only now that Vera recognizes the weariness hidden behind her dad's façade.

"I did bad things." Levi starts, and the ever-obedient daughter in her stays silent at this revelation. "Bad things I shouldn't have done and things I regret doing."

"I was in a bad place before I met Uncle Erwin, before you mother. Even while fighting those monsters, I thought it was all behind me but no. I was proven wrong. _We_ were proven wrong."

He gives Petra a soft smile before turning back to their daughter. "It took me a long time before I gotten over what I did. We were just afraid you'd think differently of us."

Vera observes them quietly and shakes her head, feeling herself tearing up.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, and quietly promises herself to keep this conversation a secret.


End file.
